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Does female labor share reduce embodied carbon in trade?

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Abstract

This study innovatively investigates the impact of female labor share on trade-related embodied carbon based on the idea of ecofeminism. Regression results show that an increase in the female labor share contributes to a reduction in emissions embodied in trade, and that this effect is more significant after the control variables, education level and female political participation, are included. More specifically, in developed countries, higher female labor force participation would reduce the embodied carbon related to imports and exports only in the service sector. However, in developing countries, increases in female labor force participation are conducive to reducing the embodied carbon of exports and imports in the service and industrial sectors, respectively. This study provides new evidence for policy makers to reduce trade-related emissions embodied in trade by encouraging female employment.

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The data used during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This study is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 71471001, 41771568, 71533004, 71503001; 71601170); the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant no. 2016YFA0602500; 16YJC630123); and Qingdao Social Science Planning Project (grant no. QDSKL2001002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics, Institute of Marine Development, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, People’s Republic of China

    Shuhong Wang, Zhengzheng Li & Hongyan Zhang

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  1. Shuhong Wang
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  2. Zhengzheng Li
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Shuhong Wang is in charge of the Introduction and Theory and Hypotheses Section. ZhengZheng Li provides the empirical results of the article, and Hongyan Zhang makes the conclusions and submit the article.

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Correspondence to Hongyan Zhang.

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Wang, S., Li, Z. & Zhang, H. Does female labor share reduce embodied carbon in trade?. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 8246–8257 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11172-6

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